New Mexico fiber project to provide high-speed internet for underserved communities

After delays from federal officials, New Mexico’s agency to expand broadband this week announced an agreement with an internet service provider to bring high-speed fiber internet to communities in five of the state’s northern counties through a federally funded grant.

A total of 1,970 unserved locations and 1,965 underserved locations throughout Colfax, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, Santa Fe and Taos counties will receive fiber broadband access from the project, New Mexico Office of Broadband Access and Expansion said in a news release announcing the agreement with Kit Carson Electric Cooperative, which provides internet among other utilities. Homes, businesses and community institutions — such as fire departments, libraries, schools and medical centers — in the communities will receive the upgrade, OBAE added.

Funding for roughly two-thirds of the project’s $40 million price tag comes via the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment federal grant program, which was established in the Biden-era Infrastructure and Jobs Act to achieve universal high-speed internet access nationwide. Kit Carson matched the remaining costs. This project is the first of approximately 19 projects that will be funded by the program to tackle connectivity issues throughout the state, OBAE said in a statement.

OBAE Director Jeff Lopez told Source NM that “just around 74% of New Mexico had access to broadband” when the office was first established in 2021. “Now, around 91% is connected,” he continued, adding that this project is the first step to address the remaining locations without connection.

The Trump administration delayed $293 million of the program’s total funds earlier this year after the National Telecommunications and Information Administration failed to release guidelines for how to spend the cash. 

The Biden administration “had one set of goals and the current federal administration made some pretty dramatic changes that the Office of Broadband had to accommodate in order to get access to these dollars,” Lopez said. After the federal telecommunications agency released the new guidelines in June, OBAE began its bidding process for grant money.

Lopez said he aims for the project to be completed by 2030, as Kit Carson must complete a one- to three-year process of environmental reviews and permitting before construction can begin. 

One of the areas the project will help is in northern Santa Fe County, a rural area that has “been underserved with broadband and telecommunications” for a long time, District 1 Santa Fe County Commissioner Justin Greene told Source NM. He added the fiber program will finish “the last mile” to previous broadband efforts by the Obama administration. 

“The communities up there will have better broadband access for education, for telehealth, for entertainment and for working from home,” Greene added.